PESHAWAR: The Fata Political Alliance, a syndicate of major political parties, has rejected formation of the proposed “Fata Council” and demanded merger of the tribal region with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

In a meeting the alliance also announced to arrange a three-day sit-in in front of the Peshawar Press Club from Feb 15 in which workers of political parties and tribal people would take part, said a press release issued here on Sunday.

Iqbal Afridi chaired the meeting which was also attended by leaders of Pakistan Peoples Party, Awami National Party, Jamaat-i-Islami, National Party and Fata Lawyers Forum. Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl is not part of the alliance.

JI leader Zarnoor Afridi told Dawn that central leaders of the mainstream parties and parliamentarians from the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) would also be invited to attend the dharna (sit-in). He said that the alliance had also approached JUI-F and requested it to take part in the protest.

Zarnoor Afridi accused Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Sardar Mahtab Ahmad Khan of misguiding the five-member committee formed by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to finalise recommendations for political mainstreaming of Fata.

He said that the committee was just wasting money and time because overwhelming majority of tribal people wanted abolition of the Frontier Crimes Regulation and merger with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. He said that the committee had visited three tribal agencies so far, but had achieved nothing.

“On the directives of the governor the Fata political parties oppose formation of Fata Council political agents concerned invited 500 Lungi Holders for every jirga while political parties and other civil society groups had been given nominal representation,” he said.

He suggested that instead of holding consultative the jirga inside the compound of political agent office it should be convened at a neutral location where people could express their views. He alleged that the governor did not want reforms in Fata.

Zarnoor Afridi said that the army was also in favour of drastic reforms in Fata and General Raheel Sharif had announced mainstreaming of tribal areas. He said that over 10 million people of Fata had been deprived of fundamental rights and few vested interests supported FCR.

The statement said that thousands of people would attend the sit-in and it would be the last nail in the coffin of FCR. It demanded separation of executive from judiciary in Fata and extending the role of Supreme Court of Pakistan to the area by making amendment in Article 247 of the Constitution.

The alliance also demanded Rs500 billion relief package to rebuild the damaged infrastructure in the militancy-ravaged areas and rehabilitate the affected families. It said that the government should conduct local government elections in all tribal agencies.

Published in Dawn, February 8th, 2016